I Hope You Dance
by FaithinBones
Summary: According to Brennan, it's all about the dance.
1. Chapter 1

(Season 6 – 'The Killer in the Crosshairs')

This idea came to me while listening to the song 'I Hope You Dance'. This is not a song fic.

I really don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

She had known Booth for a long time and during that time, she had seen him happy, ecstatic, angry, upset, sad and conceitedly smug, but she could not recall a time when he appeared to be apathetic. Booth usually took a bad turn in his life in either an outraged state or an unhappy state, but to appear defeated wasn't something she was used to.

At first, her partner had been angry when Hannah had rejected his marriage proposal and that she had understood. Booth wore his heart on his sleeve and unless he was interviewing a suspect he rarely hid how he felt about anything, but this time his anger had lasted all of two weeks then apathy had seemed to take over. Though he claimed to be angry, Brennan didn't really think that was true. She was afraid he wasn't feeling anything at all.

Her partner was the type of man who moved on quickly when he suffered a setback. He'd told her often enough that he didn't live in the past, but only in the present. Most of the time he didn't even seem to be interested in the future, just what was happening at that moment. She supposed it was a survival mechanism he had learned as a child growing up in an abusive situation. The fact that he was unable to get past another heartbreak concerned her. She was his friend and she wanted to help him, if he would let her.

Brennan had been through her own trials in the last year and after her world had turned upside down for three days, she had had an epiphany. For too long, she had shut down the emotional side of her life and all it had caused her was loneliness and a crushed heart. Now she was determined to examine her emotions and understand why she was reacting in a certain way instead of denying that she was feeling anything at all.

She also danced.

As an anthropologist she had studied many cultures that used dance for various ceremonies and over the years she had learned that dancing was cathartic, at least for her. After she had been nearly killed during her obsessive behavior during the Lauren Eames case and she had admitted that she did indeed love Booth she had realized that she had to dance. Alone in her apartment, her heart broken, she stood in her apartment and slowly started to sway. No music played for this dance. This was a dance of recovery and hope. She now knew she was able to love someone and though that someone was living with someone else, she rejoiced in the fact that she could feel love for someone.

Since her childhood, she had thought that love was a myth, a cruel joke. After her family had abandoned her to be raised by strangers, she had come to the conclusion that love was just chemicals and once those chemicals in the body wore off then loved died with it.

She now knew that wasn't true. Love did exist and she had found it though it appeared to be too late to do anything about it. Slowly dancing in her living room, she smiled at Brainy Smurf and Jasper the Pig sitting on the bookshelf near her bedroom door and she knew that Booth had been right all along. She only had to open her heart and see that there was someone there for her. The fact that she had rejected his love and he now had someone else in his life didn't negate the fact that she had at last found love.

Her body started to sway faster, her arms moved up and balanced her body and she moved around her living room. She thought of the friendship that still existed between her and Booth and she knew that she may have lost his willingness to have a relationship with her, but she hadn't lost his friendship. He loved her as a friend and she loved him too. She had never had a friend like Booth and she hoped she continued to keep that friendship.

Angela was a dear friend to her and she loved her too, but Booth was the only friend she had ever had that accepted her the way she was and didn't try to push her to change. He accepted who and what she was and she found that to be a special part of their friendship. Their love was special. They had gone through many trials and tribulations together and apart and yet their friendship remained strong.

Her body started to move faster and she moved her arms further up in the air. She started to lift her feet to a rhythm only she could hear. Her heart started to beat faster, her pulse increased as she started to move in circles about the room. She felt the adrenaline move through her as her pace quickened. Her gaze once more on the figurines that Booth had given her, she bounced over to the bookshelf and swooped them off the shelf.

Holding them up in the air, she felt tears escape her eyelashes as she danced faster. "I am not alone. I am not alone." Jumping about the room, her head thrown back as she cried happy tears she felt emotions she had thought she would never feel. She had always been alone or so she had thought, but during the Lauren Eames case she had been forced to look at her own life and she realized that she had many friends who cared about her just like she cared about them.

Suddenly she stopped, held up the figurines and smiled at the simple gifts. No one had ever given her a gift before just because they had wanted to make her feel better. Though she couldn't have Booth the way she wanted to, that didn't matter right now. He was still in her life and he made her life interesting. It also made her both sad and happy, an odd emotional mix, but it was what she felt.

Carefully placing the figurines back on the shelf, she felt better for her dance. She was still sad about her situation, but that sadness wasn't as strong as it had been before. She might seek out someone to have a personal relationship with or she might not. She now knew that she was not alone and it wasn't necessary to seek out sexual gratification to feel anything. She felt many things now and love was the most important one. She had at last found love and was willing to admit it. She wasn't alone. She hadn't been for quite a while. It had just taken her a while to see it and appreciate it.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

They were sitting in the Diner, a place they enjoyed together. It was a simple setting, the food was good and the coffee was hot. As she poured a little sugar in to her coffee cup, Brennan watched Booth as he cut into a slice of apple pie. He appeared to still be in a quiet mood, a pensive mood and she wished she could help him to move on. "I think you should dance."

Not sure what she was talking about, Booth placed his fork down and frowned at his friend. "What do you mean?"

"Most cultures have ceremonies to celebrate milestones in a man's life. There are three important elements in moving on past an old relationship. First there is admission. You accept that your relationship is over. Then cleansing and then celebration. You were quite angry and that anger cleansed any feelings you had for Hannah from your system. Now you must dance to celebrate your separation and your new independence. It will help you move on."

Booth was used to Brennan's lectures, but somehow this one seemed a bit too strange. "I'm supposed to dance because I was dumped."

"No, you are supposed to dance because your life has changed and you are now on a new path." Brennan saw that he was skeptical, but he was listening and that was all she could hope for. "Dancing will help you celebrate a new phase you're now starting to enter. You have told me many times that you don't believe in living in the past, you live in the present. Dancing would help you to let go of the past and to move forward."

He'd said it many times and he really didn't believe in living in the past, but dancing to celebrate being dumped was too weird. "Yeah, I'm moving forward just fine." Pausing, Booth noticed that Brennan seemed to have changed over the last few weeks. He didn't know what had happened, but she seemed to be happy or at least happier than she had been since she had come back from Maluku. In a way, he was happy for her. At least one of them wasn't being crushed by life. "I'm moving on, Bones. Don't worry about it."

She was disappointed that he didn't want to take her advice, but she knew he had to navigate his own future. "Alright. I won't." And yet she knew she would worry about him. That was what it meant to love someone. She accepted that now.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Alone in his apartment, Booth rested on his couch with a beer in one hand and the TV remote in the other. Aimlessly flipping channels, he couldn't seem to settle on anything. Even his beloved Philadelphia Flyers were playing a game, but he couldn't work up any enthusiasm for it. "Where's the anger?" He had been so angry the night Hannah had crushed his heart, but two weeks later he didn't seem able to work up any emotions at all. The only emotions he had been able to whip up lately was the fear that Brennan thought he was like Jacob Brodsky. He wanted her to understand he wasn't, but how was he supposed to explain it to her when from the outside they appeared to be the same?

Restless, he turned off the television and threw the remote on the coffee table. After he finished the beer, he stood up and stared at the empty bottle. Did he really want to be that guy? Sitting in his apartment, feeling sorry for himself and drinking more than was good for him? "I'm not my father. I refuse to be my father."

For some reason, he would never really understand, he pushed his couch closer to the wall, then moved the coffee table closer to the couch. With some free space now available, he stood still and thought about what he was supposed to do. Brennan had told him to dance, but he wasn't sure how that was supposed to work. Unused to dancing by himself, he walked over to the couch and picked up a pillow. Moving back into the cleared space he hugged the pillow against his chest and continued to stand still.

"Okay, it's not like anyone can see me. It's just me and my pillow."

Slowly he started to move his feet as if he was dancing a slow waltz. It was odd not to have a dance partner, but he guessed that was the point. He was free to dance the way he wanted to. There was no one there to criticize him or make fun of him. As he moved, he found the situation to be interesting and changed his dance to a faster waltz. As he moved around the living room, his pulse quickened and he could feel his heart beat a little faster. His eyes on his surroundings to make sure he didn't hit anything, he spied the phone that Hannah had given him. He'd never considered getting rid of it once his former girlfriend was gone. He had known that Brennan had told Hannah about the phone, so wasn't it really a gift from his partner?

His feet moved faster and he held the pillow out away from his body, both to help maintain his balance and to pretend that he had a dancing partner. He smiled at the thought of dancing with Brennan. He knew that she loved to dance and though she wasn't very good at it, her enthusiasm more than made up for any faults in her technique. "I think you had a good idea, Bones." He continued to dance and as he did he felt some of the weight that he had felt pushing him down, leaving his body.

The phone rang and he stopped. A little winded, Booth realized he had been dancing with maniacal speed and he hadn't noticed. Throwing the pillow on the couch, he moved over to the dining room table and picked up his phone. "Booth."

 _We're you working out? I can call back._

"No . . . I mean yeah I was, but I'm done." He would never admit that he had been dancing by himself, but he didn't want to lie about it either. "What's up?"

 _I'm just calling to see if you wanted to have breakfast with me tomorrow morning. If you have plans that's fine._

"Sure, I'll meet you at the diner." Booth moved over to his recliner and sat down. "Thanks for the invitation. I've missed having breakfast with you."

 _I've missed having breakfast with you too._

He wasn't sure what else to say. He wanted things to be back the way they were before his mistake outside the Hoover, before his brain tumor when his world had turned upside down. It had taken him a long time, but somehow his world was righting itself and he knew it was because Brennan was still his friend and his partner. He loved her friendship and he loved her. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. Night."

 _Good night._ She ended the call and wondered about the change in her partner. Something had happened since she had last seen him, but she knew that whatever had happened made him appear to be less distant and somehow closer to being the partner and friend she used to have before they had left for distant shores. Whatever it was that changed, she was grateful for it. "Perhaps we are moving down the right path together. Only time will tell."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

This is not the end of my story. Let me know what you think of it so far. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

(After 'The Change in the Game')

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Her relationship was too new and too different from anything she had ever attempted before. She had lived with Peter for a while before she had started working with Booth, but that had been a disaster and not something she liked to dwell on. They had had too little in common and they had argued most of the time when they were together. The most galling thing of all was the fact that Peter had blamed their break up on her and was unwilling to take any of the blame or responsibility.

The last time she had seen him, he had broken into her apartment to retrieve his television. When confronted, he had tried to use psychobabble on her and he had told her that she was emotionally distant and cold. He had made sure to bring up her being orphaned so young and had asked her if she wanted to spend the rest of her life alone. While at the time she had been furious that her ex was trying to lay all the blame upon her for their failed relationship, it had also given her a lot to think about at the time.

She'd hated psychology then and she hated it now, but in a way Peter had touched upon her personal demons. What if she really was too emotionally stunted to have a successful relationship with Booth? She loved him and she knew he loved her, but she also knew that it might not be possible to give him what he needed emotionally. Deep down she was afraid that Peter was right and she would eventually find herself separated from Booth and this time the pain would be so much worse than her breakup with Peter or even Sully.

Alone in her apartment for the first time in weeks because Booth was away, Brennan found the quiet to be a little disturbing. Her partner had been called in to handle the kidnapping case of the teenage daughter of a metro police captain. He was determined to save the child and Brennan had faith he would. In the meantime she felt she should use her free time more wisely, but it turned out she wasn't in the mood to listen to her inner voice give her advice.

It had only been a month since she had started sleeping with Booth, but she already found it hard to sleep alone. His presence in her life was changing many things in her life and those changes were unexpected. They didn't seem to be bad changes, but none the less she was changing and that filled her with a sense of foreboding. Was she changing herself or was Booth changing her. Not deliberately of course, but just having him in her life on a more intimate level seemed to be the cause. Could she live with those changes? She wasn't sure.

The thought of giving up on their relationship wasn't something she was willing to consider. She loved her partner and she was going to have to accept some of the changes in her life to adjust to her new life. After all, wasn't that part of being a monogamous couple?

Peter's distant pronouncement still seemed to echo in her mind and most of the time his words came back to haunt her when it appeared she was at her most vulnerable, alone with time to think.

Determined to drive out the doubt, Brennan moved over to her sound system and selected a CD to fill the room with noise, with music. She didn't put any thought into her selection, but suddenly she felt a strange chill run down her back when she heard 'Kiss from a Rose' begin to play. She had forgot she had that CD and as the music played she was brought back to that time when she had danced with Booth at her high school reunion.

The memory was both a pleasant memory and an awkward one. As the music continued she found her body swaying with the music. A slight smile on her lips, she moved slowly across the living room floor, her feet moving in time to the melody. Her hips swayed and her arms slowly came up as if she held Booth in her arms as she danced. The thought of his hands on her hips as she moved caused her to feel a warmth that she had rarely felt when she danced with others. His embrace while they had danced had caused her to feel emotions that she had had a hard time understanding at the time.

As she moved around the room, she now knew what those feelings were and it surprised her that she had fought her attraction to Booth for so long. "So much time wasted and yet . . . and yet I wasn't ready then." The music ended and Brennan stopped moving. Filled with a feeling of comfort she moved back to the sound system and exchanged the CD for some soft jazz. Peter's words had been washed away with the memory of dancing with Booth and the fact that she could dance with Booth once more and this time, she could hold him and lean against him without fear of a misunderstanding. He was her lover and though that was new the emotions that came with that change of status felt as comfortable as a warm blanket on a cold day. He made her feel safe and loved and that was the difference between Booth and Peter. Booth loved her for who she was and didn't mean to change her. He loved her just as she was.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

He wasn't sure what it was that set her off, but she was angry and he was trying to deal with it. Booth wasn't very neat and some of his personal habits drove Brennan to distraction. He tried to keep his clothes put away, his sports equipment out of the way, but still there were things he did without thinking. He had been a bachelor most of his life. True, he had lived with women off and on through the years, but it rarely lasted beyond a few months or so. This relationship was important to him and he was not going to let it fail.

Her last words before she had fled his apartment had been something about the bathroom. After the door slammed shut, he shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. "I hope this is just the pregnancy." He knew that her emotions were a little volatile at the moment and he was trying not to set her off, but he had and he was afraid that sooner or later she was going to leave and she wasn't going to come back.

Entering the bathroom, he inspected the room and he knew he had let it get too messy. He had come home exhausted early that morning after rescuing the teenager from her ex-boyfriend. She was unharmed and so was the boy, but the whole thing had been a tough cat and mouse game and he had only craved a quick bath and sleep when he got home. Moving through the room, he first picked up his dirty clothes lying next to the clothes hamper and dropped them in the hamper.

Determined to make it ship shape, he cleaned the tub, mopped the floor, cleaned the toilet and sink, made sure the mirror was spotless and the rug was lying neatly next to the tub. He emptied the hamper and carried the clothes to his washing machine, placed them on the table next to the machine and carefully sorted the clothes. One he had a load of white clothes in the machine, he went in to the kitchen and cleaned that up too. Once the room was spotless, he entered the living room and placed some music on.

The soothing sounds of jazz filling his apartment, Booth moved over to the window and looked out on the street below. The day was a gray day and the sky drizzled rain in a haphazard manner on the street and pedestrians below. "Why not? Why should the weather help the situation?"

Feeling a little sorry for himself, he moved away from the window and over to his entertainment center. The picture of Brennan and himself drew his attention. Max had taken that picture at his favorite restaurant and he had made sure the couple each got a copy. It was a nice picture and Booth thought Brennan looked gorgeous. She always did look good in black and her hair swept up exposed her long neck and her cute ears.

Slowly swaying to the music, Booth remembered Brennan telling him that music was a great way to move from one phase in a relationship to another. "Or something like that." He had moved into a new relationship with his partner and he had to adjust to living with her.

Hannah had barely lived with him after she had moved in. She'd been gone more than she was home, so besides the whole gut wrenching rejection of marriage thing nothing much had changed once she was gone. She hadn't owned a lot of things and she didn't seem to care what the place looked like. After she was gone, he had just been a little more alone than he had been before. An odd feeling, but it was the honest truth.

Brennan was fastidious and he knew that. He needed to be neater in his personal habits and he knew he could do it most of the time. It was just when he was tired that he slipped back into old habits of socks on the floor or jackets hanging from the collar on door knobs. Still it was minor stuff and he really believed her hormones were driving her emotions a little harder and faster than normal. He hoped she would be more tolerant once the baby arrived.

Moving a little faster, he danced around the living room, his eyes hooded and seeing just enough of his surroundings not to hit anything. His mind filled with thoughts of a future with Brennan he didn't hear the front door open and close.

"You're dancing."

Startled, Booth stopped moving and faced his girlfriend. "Yeah. I'm moving into my new phase in life and I was dancing for you and me."

Surprised, Brennan removed her raincoat and laid it over the recliner. "May I join you?"

A pleased smile on his face, Booth held out his hand and took her outstretched hand in his hand, pulling her closer to his body. Once they were in each other's embrace, Booth moved them into a slow dance, barely moving in front of the window. "You came back."

"Of course I did." Brennan leaned her head on his shoulder and felt the warmth of his body against her body. She had let her emotions get the better of her earlier and all because of a pair of pants and a shirt lying on the floor. "I will always come back."

Her words were a balm to him and made him feel more confident in their future. "We just need to get used to each other that's all. I'm not very neat and you're a little too neat. There has to be a happy middle ground somewhere."

"I agree." She knew she shouldn't have become so angry with Booth. He hadn't come home until after four that morning and the last thing he had been thinking about before he fell into bed was his dirty clothes. "You can try to be neater and I'll try to be more forgiving."

Amused, Booth chuckled. "Sounds like a plan."

Comfortable dancing with her lover, Brennan nodded her head. "Dancing with you is very nice. We should do it more often."

"We really should." Jazz continued to play in the background and they swayed to the music. "It's all about the dance."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


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